Eric Pickles throws out £160m Smithfield Market scheme

Conservationists are celebrating a shock victory today after Communities Secretary Eric Pickles threw out a “wholly unacceptable” £160 million scheme to redevelop much of Smithfield Market.

The decision came after a high-profile campaign to halt the proposed scheme, which would have turned the western end of the market into an office, shop and restaurant complex.

It was backed by figures including Alan Bennett, Jeanette Winterson and Kristin Scott Thomas, who compared the plan to the destruction of Les Halles market in Paris.

In his ruling today Mr Pickles said plans by developer Henderson Global Investors to demolish parts of the market and replace it with office blocks would be of “great detriment to the surrounding area”.

He concluded: “The Western Market buildings are an integral part of the group of market buildings that is a key characteristic of the Smithfield Conservation Area and it is important that they are repaired and put into a beneficial use that is consistent with their conservation as heritage assets.”

The decision ends one of the City’s most bitter planning rows in decades — but it will also cast the future of the empty former General and Poultry Market buildings, used as a set for Bond film Skyfall, into doubt.

Geoff Harris, head of development at Henderson Real Estate, said: “We are surprised and extremely disappointed with the decision taken by the Secretary of State, which, in our view, has been influenced by a disingenuous campaign employed by a small minority of objectors.”

Campaign groups SAVE Britain’s Heritage and The Victorian Society fought hard to persuade Mr Pickles to review planning approval given to the scheme by the City Corporation. A two-week public inquiry was held in February after Mr Pickles called it in.

Opponents of the scheme presented their own proposal, which would bring the buildings back into use as a Spitalfields-style street market ready to take advantage of Crossrail. Those plans would not involve any demolition.

SAVE director Clem Cecil said: “This decision is all the more important [given] the Secretary of State has officially accepted the high importance of the market buildings and their interiors and described the heritage assets as irreplaceable. We will now proceed with our alternative plans which Mr Pickles agreed are viable.”

In his ruling, Mr Pickles blamed the City Corporation for the condition of the buildings. His report said: “The deteriorated state of the buildings is, at least in part, the result of the history of deliberate neglect ... In assessing the planning balance, less weight should therefore be given to the current condition of the buildings and the consequent benefit of their repair.”

The buildings fell into disuse in the Nineties. They escaped demolition following a public inquiry in 2008.